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Congolese President Joseph Kabila and challenger Jean-Pierre Bemba have assured four former African leaders that they would accept the run-off election results due to be announced before 19 November, one of the statesman said.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, transitional President Joseph Kabila is in the lead in early vote-counting, but election officials insist this should not lead to any projections. Former African leaders have appealed to Mr. Kabila and his opponent, former rebel leader Jean Pierre Bemba, to avoid violence during and after the release of results from last week's presidential election.

The collecting of the ballot papers started in all the 62 compilation centers in the country, declared Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) president Apollinaire Malu Malu during a press conference held on 2 November 2006, in the presence of the president of the High Authority of the Media.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) anxious wait for the outcome of the presidential election run-off is putting its neighbour Zambia on edge where currency dealers are stocking up on kwacha, the local currency, and dumping the DRC's Congolese franc.

European Force resumed its day and night patrols in the city since the closing of the polling stations, according to its spokesperson Lt. Colonel Thierry Fusalba, at a weekly press conference held in Kinshasa on 2 November, 2006.

The European Union Electoral Observation Mission (EU EOM) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo noted at a press conference held in Kinshasa on 1 November 2006, that the Election Day went off in order and with noticeable improvement in the operations transparency comparing to the first round elections.

Observers of Sunday's second-round presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo are pleading with electoral officials to ensure transparency in vote counting. The observers also criticized Congolese media for disseminating hate speech and biased coverage.

Repeat elections have been conducted in parts of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri District following disturbances during Sunday's presidential polls.Speaking on Tuesday, the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Apollinaire Malumalu, told IRIN that the disturbances had occurred in Fataki, 90 km northeast of Bunia, the main town in Ituri, after a soldier shot dead two polling clerks.

At a press conference on 31 October 2006, the South African Observer Mission (SAOM) announced that the presidential and provincial elections "were conducted in a climate conducive for a democratic expression of the will of the people of the DRC," in the presence of the witnesses of the political parties as well as both the national and international observers.